Conscious Decision to Encourage the Players to Play County Cricket: Vinod Rai

Virat Kohli’s desire to play county cricket in order to prepare himself for the upcoming tough tour of England has caused quite a stir. The reason behind the same is that Kohli might miss the historic Test against Afghanistan at home.

While many feel that it is the best way to prepare for the challenging tour, some feel that Kohli’s absence will be equal to undermining the Test against Afghanistan, who will be playing their first-ever Test.

And now  Vinod Rai, member of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), has said that the final call depends on Kohli whether he wants to represent India in the One-off Test against Afghanistan or he wants to play county cricket in the United Kingdom (UK).

Rai also made it clear that the officials are encouraging the players to play county cricket in order to prepare for the England tour.

India has endured some wretched time in England in recent years.

In 2011, England has whitewashed them 4-0 before beating them 3-1 three years later.

“CoA has taken a conscious decision to encourage the players, especially Test specialists, to play county and hone their skills for the England series. No question of stopping them to play versus Afghanistan. The team that played in Sri Lanka will play versus Afghanistan,” Rai told ANI.

“Afghanistan is playing versus India and not Virat Kohli. No player (Cheteshwar Pujara especially) will be called back from the UK to play versus Afghanistan. Priority is England and to do well there, so, whatever it takes.”

“Will not repeat the same mistake that happened versus South Africa. The working committee of the BCCI is us, so doesn’t matter what they say or think,” Rai added.

India-Afghanistan Test match will take place in Bengaluru starting from June 14 in the middle of Kohli’s county commitments with Surrey.

India will play three Twenty20 Internationals, three One-day Internationals, and five Tests in England starting from July to September.

Kohli would be desperate to do well in England this time around.

Last time, India had visited England, Kohli had endured a disastrous outing.

India lost the series 3-1, and Kohli was one of the worst performers. He averaged just 13.40 in ten innings with a top score of 39.

The 29-year-old Virat Kohli got out for single-digit scores on six occasions in the series.

He recently said that he was keen to play county cricket ahead of the series.

“Playing county cricket will help me improve my game. I think it makes things more challenging and more competitive and there are no guarantees whether you are going to do well even if you go in advance. It is just about giving yourself some more opportunity to get used to the conditions that you are not used to,” he had said in a recent interview.

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